When seeing Norway's GDP in the context of this map, one realizes
why Norway often is one of the last countries U.S. companies consider when
expanding to Europe.

Norway might be an unattractive market when considering expansion
because the market is so small and as a result there is little domestic
competition. This has enabled local players to
build monopolies or duopolies with substantial entry-barriers in many
industries. Furthermore, the government has sheltered the domestic
market against international competition by adding a hefty import tax
and inconvenient delivery methods on goods purchased outside the
country, rendering international online merchants at a disadvantage
when competing on price and convenience.

On the flip side, if you manage to establish your business here, you
can overcharge your customers and get away with horrendous customer
service. The average Norwegian customer is not used to good service
and competitive prices. Online merchants are slow. Recently it took
four weeks before I received a book shipped to me from a local
merchant. On a recent trip I recently purchased shoes for our kids in
the U.S. The selection was superior, and the price: 1/4th of what the
local Norwegian merchant was charging.

On the other hand, we have managed to build world-leading clusters
in energy (oil, hydro) and shipping. We have inexpensive good,
engineers and one of the most advanced markets in the world for mobile
content (i.e. ring-tones etc.), and we are six hours ahead of the U.S.
East-Cost, making us a good place to farm out work; you leave
instructions at 6pm EST and have the work finished at your desk in
Manhattan the next morning at 9am. This would give a Norwegian
developer or project worker ample time to finish a good days work.

Interesting commentary from this "blogger":http://www.barking-moonbat.com/index.php/weblog/world_economy_primer/ about the map and how Alabama has about the same GNP as Iran, four nuclear powerplants and a larger army. Well, with all due respect, "Iran":https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html has 68 million people -- a majority of which are under 30 years of age (and they alle want to live in the US). I think this is important to rememeber when comparing nations? Also, I would think that Iran's strategic location makes a difference in terms of ability to influence the geopolitical scene.

Can you help us locate the map on the York Group's website or ask your friend to provide a link? I was unable to confirm where it is on their site and what numbers they used. Just a quick comparison of numbers from the latest Human Development Report has vastly different numbers that are suggested by the map. I'd like to confirm where they got their numbers.

The reason that Indian and China are not listed is that they have bigger economies than any US state. The objective of the map is to show what country is most similar to the state in terms of economy, not to show all the countries. France, which is linked here with California, has the 7th largest economy. (Lists of this vary a bit).

Your description of Norway reminds me very much of Ireland. Here everything is artificially expensive with high import duties and VAT, regulatory barriers/ex-state monopolies and so on, except that we don't have your oil/shipping industries!

Since we equate with Nevada, we could do with a Las Vegas like place too :)

The similarities to Minnesota go deeper than that; a lot of Norwegians settled there, to the point that Garrison Kiellor makes references to "Norwegian bachelor farmers" in his classic radio show "A Prairie Home Companion".

As stated in the post: the map is not mine! I got it from a friend who got it from York International. See link under map. But even if it is not entirely correct -- it made me think about my own country in a new context, and most importantly, it made me laugh!

Very interestesting. And it puts your own country in a new context, doesn't it? Norway -- probably as most countries -- tends to be quite biased and unrealistic when viewing its own importance in the world. This map is humbling in that respect. And even if it might not be entirely correct in terms of figures, it is still a good reminder of why most things are not invented here.